Supernova
by Avrel the Teller
Summary: All Emil wanted was the chance to travel among the stars, and when he joined the crew of Starchaser, that's all he thought he was going to get. But that was before the rebel conspiracies. That was before the Empire's secrets. Before Angie.


Rebels, plots, and girls were definitely the last things on my mind when Lukas got me a job aboard _Starchaser._

It wasn't a glamorous job or anything. I mostly ran errands and took care of odd jobs for the higher ups. It was thankless work, dealing with grumpy cooks, impatient pilots, and bored passengers. I wasn't about to complain, though. It was an escape from the sleepy little town I had grown up in, out into the emptiness of space.

I suppose I've always harbored the desire to captain a ship of my own. I thought of this job as my first step to someday own a ship to call my own. But I was still a child then, full of childish dreams and empty of any knowledge of how the real world worked. Some dreams come true, yes, but others don't, and others come at a price so high it outweighs any joy that comes from that dream. But I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

* * *

As one of the newest and youngest members of the crew, one of my main jobs was handling passengers. _Starchaser_ was a fairly small starship, much smaller than most passenger starships. At most, it only held about a dozen or so passengers. However, that also meant that the crew was small as well, so I still spent most of my time running down corridors and making sure every passenger had what they needed. It was a far cry from my own ship, but everyone had to start somewhere. I consoled myself with the thought that Captain Køhler might notice all my hard work and maybe even promote me.

But even if I didn't have that hope, there was still the wonder of space. There was nothing quite like it, after all. The thrill of traveling to new places was enough to keep me energized and ready to face each day.

Even if that day involved cranky passengers.

I stood just inside the door of the ship, gazing out across the busy port. Janus was one of the most centrally located planets, so there was always a lot of activity at the ports. We stopped here as often as we could to pick up passengers. Seeing the same planet every few weeks wasn't exactly my idea of adventure, but it brought in the money.

I let my gaze wander over the crowd, searching for a distinctive flower hairclip. A flash of pink caught my eye, and I swung my gaze toward it. As usual, Xiao Mei's clip was doing a terrible job at keeping her long black hair out of her face, but she barely seemed to notice as she went from traveler to traveler, her friendliest smile on her face.

"Little Mei find anyone yet?" a voice from behind me asked. I didn't need to turn to know that it was Carlos, _Starchaser'_s engineer.

"Not yet," I said, my gaze fixed on Mei. "No, wait, hang on…" Mei had stopped in front of a trio, a man with shoulder-length blond hair and two teenage girls. The girls looked to be about the same age, but that was where the similarities stopped. One of them, the girl with the glasses and the braided hair, looked as though she could be the man's sister, but the other looked nothing like them, with darker skin and dark brown hair tied back with two bright red ribbons. She didn't seem to be paying any attention to the conversation going on around her, instead gazing with wonder at her surroundings. She looked like she'd never been at a port in her life, which struck me as odd on a planet like Janus.

The man, on the other hand, was listening intently to Mei. As soon as he nodded, I turned to Carlos. "Go grab Elise and ask her to come up here to watch for passengers while I get these people settled in. I think she should be finishing up with the rooms."

Carlos snorted. "You don't give orders around here, kid." But he left anyway, patting my head good-naturedly before disappearing farther into the ship. I rolled my eyes and opened up the compartment beside the door, pulling out a couple of keycards before closing it again. It was one of many hidden compartments found throughout the ship. When closed, you could only notice it if you knew what you were looking for. I'd found a few while exploring the ship in my downtime, but I was sure there were more somewhere.

I turned back to the port, watching the trio make their way toward the ship. The man nudged and pushed people to make a path for him and the two girls. They didn't seem to have much luggage, only a backpack each. I frowned. Even if they were only planning a short vacation, it took several days to reach our destination, Fessonia. Most people knew to pack much more than three small backpacks. Well, I hoped they weren't expecting us to have a laundry service for them. _Starchaser _wasn't exactly a luxury ship, after all.

The trio had finally made their way through the crowd and were quickly approaching the ship, the man's hands firmly grasped onto the girls' wrists. I quickly put on my most pleasant face. It wasn't much different from my usual blank look, but it was much better than the grimace I made whenever I tried to fake a smile. Carlos had taken one look the first time he saw me attempt it and burst out laughing. "You're going to scare away everyone with a face like that," he'd said, and so I'd given up the attempt.

As soon as the trio stepped aboard _Starchaser_, I stepped forward. "Welcome aboard _Starchaser_. I'll be one of the crewmembers who will be taking care of you during the flight," I recited. "If you'll follow me, I'll bring you to your rooms."

Now began one of my least favorite parts of the job. The long, awkward walk down to the rooms. I just didn't have the social skills of the girls. Mei could talk about anything and everything, while Elise had little difficulty with small talk. As for me, I just couldn't get the hang of it, and any conversation with me went about as well as…well, as one with _Starchaser_.

"So what's your name?" a bright voice asked.

I looked back to see the girl with the red hair ribbons smiling brightly at me. "Emil," I said, turning back around and hoping that would be the end of it.

"My name's Angie!" she continued. "Wow, so this is what a starship is like? I've never been on one before!"

Well, that explained why she was staring so much in the port. Still odd, but I suppose not everyone had the time or the money to travel off planet. I shrugged my shoulders a bit, trying to hint that I was done with the conversation.

"You must get to see so many places," Angie said, completely oblivious. "I'm jealous. I've never left Janus before. Francis said that Fessonia is a lot more rural than Janus. Have you ever been to Fessonia before? You must have, working on a starship like this. I bet you've been to a lot of planets. What are they like? How do the planets farther out even survive?"

I was relieved when we finally reached the rooms. I stopped in front of the first door and slid one of the keycards into the slot beside it. "Your rooms are here. The keycards lock and unlock them, so don't lose them. The dining hall is located at the end of the hall on the left. You're free to walk about the ship, but we request that you stay out of the kitchen, the bridge, and engineering. We hope that you enjoy your stay aboard _Starchaser_, sir."

He smiled gently. "Just call me Francis," he said. "These are my sisters, Monica and Angie. Come along now, girls, let's get settled in."

"Bye, Emil!" Angie said. "Let's talk more later, okay?"

"Um, right," I said. "Uh, feel free to call any of us if you need anything." I turned and quickly walked down the hall, feeling my ears burning. I hated this part of the job.

As I approached the entrance to the hip, I heard a loud thud, accompanied by a shout of, "What are you doing? Are you stupid? I can carry it myself!"

I quickened my pace. When I turned the corner, I found Elise reeling away from a short man with his long black hair tied in a ponytail. Unlike Francis and the girls, he looked more prepared for the journey, with a large suitcase and a bag slung over his shoulder. He was carefully righting the suitcase. It didn't take long for me to figure out what must have happened.

I made my way over to Elise, who was still watching the man warily. "I can lead him to his room if you'd like," I whispered. "You just wait for the next people Mei sends over."

Elise hesitated. Then she nodded once and handed me a keycard. "Probably won't be many more," she said. "There are a couple of Kirkland ships here."

I grimaced. The Kirkland brothers dominated the skies. We usually saw at least one of their ships on every planet we landed on. They were larger, they were more comfortable, and best of all, they had better defenses. And in these times, with rumors of rebels planning and attacking ships, no one who could afford it wanted to take the chance.

I looked out the door across the port and saw one of them, a large, pristine, silver ship with a line of people waiting to board. Quite a difference from our small, gray ship that still had that ding on the side from where a small asteroid had hit and nearly punctured a few weeks ago. Only those who either were in a rush or couldn't afford a room aboard one of the Kirkland ships would even consider coming to a ship like _Starchaser_.

I shook my head. This was no time to be thinking about the Kirklands. I had a passenger to escort. I turned back to the man. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to your room, Mr…?"

"Yao Wang," the man said brusquely, hefting his bags.

I nodded, then turned and began the walk back down the hallway. This time, at least, no one tried to talk to me.

We spent another hour waiting at the port. Most of that time was spent standing and waiting for Mei to send passengers our way. We got one more passenger, a woman with long brown hair who smiled warmly and introduced herself as Elizaveta Héderváry. Eventually, I left Elise at the entrance and headed to the bridge.

When I arrived, it was to find Lukas, Vash, and Captain Køhler standing together, no doubt planning out our course. The bridge was small, with just enough room for the pilot's console. It was possible to squeeze in a few people behind the console, but it was a tight fit that always ended with feet being stepped on and ribs being jabbed. As such, it didn't take long for them to notice me.

Captain Køhler turned to me, beaming. "So! Do we have any passengers?"

I nodded. "We have five. The crowd on the port is starting to thin out, though, and we haven't had any new passengers for the last half hour."

"Alright. Five is a good number!" Captain Køhler said. "We've certainly done worse. Go tell Toni to start preparing tonight's dinner. Oh, and have Elise fetch Mei back. We'll take off in fifteen minutes."

"Yes, sir," I said. I turned and quickly made my way back through the ship. The sooner this was done, the sooner I could retreat to my room. Maybe I'd be lucky and get ten minutes peace before one of the passengers called.

I only slowed my pace when I reached Elise, and even then I just stopped long enough to pass along Captain Køhler's instructions. Then I was off again, this time to the kitchen. When I entered, it was to find Antonio napping in a chair. I shook his shoulder roughly. Antonio groaned in annoyance, but I didn't stop until he finally opened his eyes. "What is it?"

"We're about to leave," I said. "Captain Køhler said to start dinner. We've got five passengers."

Antonio sat up straight, suddenly wide-awake. "Can do! Hm, I wonder what I should make…" He stood up and started pacing around the kitchen, opening cupboards and pulling out pots and pans and looking for all the world like he'd already forgotten about me. I turned when I was about to leave when he said, "Oh, could you send Elise here when she's free? I'll need some help preparing for thirteen people, and tonight's her turn."

"I'll do that," I said. At least tonight wasn't my turn to help cook. That was always the worst, having kitchen duty the same day we picked up new passengers.

Elise was just returning to the ship with Mei when I reached the entrance, and I quickly relayed Antonio's request before making my way to the crew's quarters at the front of the ship. The hall was quiet. Everyone else was probably busy with one thing or another. I would probably be busy soon enough, but for now I was going to take advantage of the downtime.

I stopped in front of my door and put in the password on the panel next to it. The door swished open, and I stepped in. it was probably a little generous to call it a room. There was just enough room for a cot, a bedside table, and a small wardrobe. Off to the side, there was a door leading to a small bathroom. On the wall next to my bed was a small intercom, used in case someone needed to contact me. Normally it was for some passenger's request.

I walked over to my bed and flopped down on it. Finally, some solitude. I rolled over and stared at the ceiling, letting my mind go blank.

A couple of minutes later, I heard a crackle as the intercom blared to life. I tensed, preparing to sit up and go do whatever needed doing, but relaxed when I heard Captain Køhler begin the same speech he always had right when we were about to take off. All the "Welcome to our ship" and "I hope you enjoy your stay with us" type of stuff I had to say earlier. I tuned out his words. I had heard it all before.

The intercom switched off, and a few minutes later I heard the rumble of the engines starting. Then _Starchaser _was rising.

All ships had been equipped with their own gravity generators years and years ago, so the effects of g-force when taking off were minimal, if they were even felt. Even still, it was still an odd feeling, and you could still tell when the ship had broken free of the atmosphere. I sat up and peered out the window set in the wall, watching Janus grow smaller and smaller. It was still an amazing feeling, to see a planet disappear behind you, to know that you weren't bound to land.

I lay back down in bed. For a while I was attentive, waiting to hear the intercom come to life again. But after half an hour of no sound, I began to doze. Looks like I had at least gotten lucky. Maybe this would be a more relaxing journey.

The intercom didn't turn on for three hours, and even then it was only to announce that dinner was ready. I left my room and made my way to the cafeteria.

_Starchaser _was too small to have separate cafeterias for the passengers and the crew, so we all shared the same space. I was one of the last to arrive. I made my way across to the counter, where the food was set out. There was a large salad and a bowl of spaghetti. Plain fare, but there was only so much you could do on a ship. Meat was typically saved for special occasions, like the last night before we landed. Antonio was weird like that.

I grabbed a plate, filled it with spaghetti, and made my way over to a water dispenser. A few cups lay next to it, and I filled one before making my way to my usual table in the back corner.

Lukas was already there when I sat down. He glanced up and nodded a hello, his mouth full of salad. We ate together in silence. We didn't often say much during meals, but it was one of the few times I could spend time with my brother. Lukas was Captain Køhler's first mate, and as such he was often busy running the ship.

Speaking of. "I don't see the captain here," I said, skimming my eyes over the room. There were Elise and Vash eating quietly, and Mei and Carlos were talking loudly at a nearby table. Yao was by himself, as was Elizaveta, and Antonio was sitting with Francis, Monica, and Angie for some reason. But there was no sign of the captain. Normally, he joined us for meals, chatting with passengers and crew alike. The cafeteria was a lot quieter without him.

Lukas shook his head. "He's calling Fessonia, seeing if anyone wants us to take cargo aboard. We need more money coming in, what with the Kirklands taking more business."

There was that name again. The Kirklands. If this kept up we'd be forced out of the skies. "Well, at least cargo is quieter than passengers," I muttered.

The rest of the meal was spent in silence. Lukas ate quickly and excused himself, mumbling something about the captain and fueling plans. I finished soon after and brought my plate, cup, and utensils to the return counter, where Elise would wash them later tonight. Then I made my way out of the cafeteria.

I was halfway to my room when someone poked me in the back. I turned around, confused, to see Angie standing behind me, grinning. I stood silently for a couple of seconds before asking, "Is there something you needed?"

Angie shrugged and shook her head. "Not really. I wanted to say hi! And to talk. We said we would, remember?"

I most certainly had not said that. Our whole conversation earlier was pretty much her asking a bunch of questions and me trying to keep up. She stared at me expectantly, and I realized that she was waiting for me to say something. "Oh, er…"

"Angelique!" someone shouted. I peered over Angie's shoulder and saw Francis striding down the hallway. "There you are," he said, sighing heavily as he reached us. "Please tell me where you're going before you run off."

"I wasn't that far," Angie protested. "I just wanted to catch up with Emil."

"Even so, I don't want you going off on your own," Francis said.

I frowned. This struck me as oddly overprotective. "Sir, if you're worried about her getting lost, it's a small ship. She should be fine."

Francis stared at me with a strange look. "No, no, I'm not worried about that. Now, Angie, come with me."

But no sooner had Francis gently taken Angie's hand than a voice from farther down the hall said, "You won't be going anywhere, Bonnefoy." Man, was I getting tired of disembodied voices today.

Francis spun around. Standing at the end of the hallway was Elizaveta. She was smiling, but it didn't seem as kind as it was before.

"Do you want something?" Francis asked warily.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Elizaveta said, still smiling. "Please don't take this the wrong way. I have nothing against you. But unfortunately, orders are orders." She raised her arm, and my breath caught in my throat. She was pointing a pistol at us. A freaking _gun_!

Francis shoved Angie behind his back. "You're not taking her back," he growled.

Elizaveta laughed. "I'm afraid you don't have much of a say in this, Bonnefoy." The smile finally fell from her face, and she stared coldly at him. "Good-bye."

It all happened in an instant. As Elizaveta made to pull the trigger, Angie squirmed out from behind Francis and stood in front of him, her hand raised. There was a bang, and I closed my eyes and flinched away, certain I was about to hear Angie hit the floor, or perhaps another gunshot.

After several seconds, I realized none of that had happened, and I opened my eyes. What I saw made my mouth drop open.

Angie was still standing.

The air in front of her was shimmering.

And the bullet was frozen in midair inches from her palm.

* * *

Angelique/Angie - Seychelles

Monica - Monaco

Xiao Mei - Taiwan

Elise - Liechtenstein

Carlos - Cuba


End file.
